Blogging the Thug Life

That's just a joke. But, seriously, I'm just sharing everything I learn as I go. If you're a new or aspiring author hang around. I share it ALL Head on over to my official author site and find more goodies:

Amazon has taken over my life this week: Well okay, its taken over half of my life. Here I want to talk about my experiences and hopefully help give some pointers to anyone thinking about publishing through Amazon's Create Space. First off, let me start my saying that Amazon did not pay me for this review. It is my own. I am new to this, so don't go running to me if you don't have the same experience: always read the fine print, before committing to anything. It is a buyers beware life, ya know? Anyway, now that I got that out of the way, let me tell you about my experience.

Point one: I wanted to publish the shorts I worked on during my fiction Workshops in College. Here's why I settled on Amazon's Create Space vs. using other platforms. This is as of today. Hopefully Amazon will continue to use these methods for writers.

1. Its free ( you can't beat that, right?).2. The Royalty options are the best I can find. 70% respectively or 35% depending on how it is bought and where it is bought.3. I use word to create my work. Amazon's create space streamlined the process easily. My format stayed put and I didn't have to fumble around trying to figure out how to convert my document, or restyle my work because of a transition4. The program has templates that help you create a cover (for dummies like me) or you can get fancy and drag in your own creation.5. You fill out tax information and all the taxes are taken out before you get paid. This helps authors avoid trouble with the Tax man at the end of the year.6. You can always edit your manuscript at no charge later in the game if you have made mistakes (believe me, I used this free service quite a bit last week. You can even change your cover. 7. You are allowed to print your own work minus the cost of printing and shipping and sell it where ever you work. that's right, you retain all rights to your work. this is especially great if you get picked up by a publisher. This is true if you use kindle as well (just don't use KDP or you lose that right while enrolled in that program). 8. There are all sorts of suggestions to help you market, or you can pay them to market your work for you. 9. there is an excellent discussion board available to ask help or browse for ideas from other publishers.10. I could publish this week and not wait for months like the usual traditional side. I am sure I missed something in that long list of reasons why I used create space. But, overall the experience has been smooth. I am already linked up to kindle, print, and opted to use KDP for 90 days. I sold a few copies already (10 thus far). Next time I chime in, I'll share my thoughts on what marketing strategies I intend to take. Questions, comments, complaints? I'd like to hear from you!